For a few weeks it has been expected that Austria's Minister of Health Rudolf Anschober (Greens) will resign. On Tuesday, April 13th 2021, the time had come and Sebastian Kurz '(ÖVP) "Man for the Unpleasant" threw in the towel. The minister is considered to be in poor health, which may have made his personal decision easier.

Ordinances in which paragraphs contradict each other or are full of spelling and grammatical errors have been signed by anchober. The credibility of this politician was certainly also in the basement because he explicitly ruled out a new lockdown in a ZIB2 interview and just a very short time later, at Sebastian Kurz's side, he had announced exactly this.

Obviously, the outgoing member of the government, who was a civilian elementary school teacher, was simply overwhelmed by the complicated health agendas. The fact that Chancellor Sebastian Kurz always picked out “raisins” and ascribed “the unpleasant” to the minister may have played a not inconsiderable role. In the end it became apparent that Anschober had little assertiveness, but rather acted as a kind of "puppet for the unpleasant" for Kurz. So it's no wonder that the Chancellor pinned popular things to his chest and, if it was a botch, referred to the signature of Mr Anschober under the regulation.

Ultimately, you can think what you want about Rudolf Anschober, but it is quite understandable when he has drawn the personal line and does not want to be portrayed as the nation's scapegoat. Maybe the politician should have taken this step much earlier, maybe he wanted to and maybe Sebastian Kurz asked him over and over again to continue. Who knows? In any case, with regard to fighting a pandemic, it is important that the successor has relevant prior medical experience and is not dependent on the recommendations of various “so-called experts” and advisors.

There is a lot of work ahead of the new minister

What is really remarkable, however, is that after the announcement of Rudolf Anschober's resignation, there has been a real OTS broadcast boom. It turned out that precisely those political currents that had been demanding the resignation of the health minister for many months suddenly positively emphasize his commitment. This does not seem very credible, because to thank the perceived "political opponent number two", but to hit political slogans a day before, seems a bit strange.

A lot of work has to be done on Anschober's successor, Wolfgang Mückstein, who is a doctor in the civilian profession. He will first have to bring the federal states and the government back to one table. He also has to issue sensible and feasible entry regulations, because those left by Anschober are simply useless for resuming tourism. Also, pretty much all countries are placed under “general suspicion”, which is little or no scientifically founded. Mückstein will also have to find a solution for those who have been vaccinated, otherwise there will be little incentive to take advantage of the vaccination campaign. The "big unknown" in the equation is called Sebastian Kurz, because if he continues to push his own neglect to the Ministry of Health and label it as a general scapegoat, Mückstein will probably not last as long as Anschober ...